Perler Bead Lighthouse

My latest internet rabbit hole led me to lighthouses. I learned that there are 750+ standing lighthouses in the US, of which approximately 450 work. All are fully automated. There are lighthouses in 31 states; Michigan has the most by far. There is some debate about how to define what exactly a lighthouse is, but most experts agree that Michigan has around 129. Maine and New York each have around 65, followed by Massachusetts (52), California (45), Wisconsin (43), Washington (30), Florida (30), North Carolina (29), and Ohio (26). 

The vast majority of lighthouses are white for easy visibility. Some have colored patterns (usually black, red, or unpainted brick) called "daymarks" that provide a contrast with the sky and water for easy identification during daylight. Lighthouses come in a wide variety of shapes and styles. Rather than design a craft for one specific lighthouse, I decided to make a generic design that represents the hundreds of lighthouses in our country. Affiliate links below. 

Perler Bead Lighthouse

Materials:

• large square pegboard
• Perler fuse beads
• iron

Steps: 

Start by placing three black beads at the bottom center of the pegboard. Add five white beads on either side of the black beads. Repeat this same pattern for the next three rows up. Then add four rows of 13 white beads, then one row of 13 grey beads. 

Add two rows of 11 white beads centered over the grey row. Then make three rows with two white, two black, three white, two black, and two white. Add two more rows of 11 white beads, then 11 grey beads, then 11 black beads.

The next row up has 9 black beads. Then add three rows with one black, three yellow, one black, three yellow, and one black. The next row has 11 black beads. Add two rows of 7 black beads, then one row with 5 black beads, one row with 3 black beads, and a single black bead at the top. 

My pattern is easy to alter if you want to make a lighthouse that looks different. Just change out the colors to add daymarks, make it wider, make it taller (you'll need to use a second board), move the windows, etc. You can base your project on an existing lighthouse or design your own like I did!

Pride Heart Keychain

Happy Pride Month to all of my LGBTQIA+ friends! 

I am proud to belong to a church that welcomes everyone. That includes people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. Literally everyone is welcome. One of the ways in which our congregation is celebrating Pride is with a keychain craft. I'll be leading that after church on June 14. My sample is based on the rainbow flag, but attendees can switch out the colors to make a different flag if they wish. Affiliate links below. 

Pride Heart Keychain

Materials:

• square pegboard
• Perler fuse beads
• iron
• paper piercer
• jump rings (ooh, they make rainbow jump rings!)
• pliers
• key ring

Steps: 

Place one purple bead in the center of the bottom row of the pegboard. Put three purple beads centered in the next row up, then five on the next row. Add a row of 7 blue beads and then 9 blue beads. The next row up has 11 green beads, then 13 green beads. 

Add two rows of 13 yellow beads immediately above the row of greens. Add two rows of 13 orange beads above the yellows. The next row up is red: skip a space, add 5 beads, skip a space, add 5 beads, skip a space. The top row has two sets of 3 red beads, centered on the previous row of red. 

Follow the directions that came with the pegboard to fuse the beads. I suggest fusing the beads more than you might ordinarily, since you want your keychain to be very sturdy. 

Use the paper piercer to enlarge the hole where the keychain will attach to the heart. Open a jump ring and thread it through the hole. Continue adding jump rings until it is the length you want it, then attach the key ring.

State Flowers Made from Perler Beads

When Jonna finished making her Perler bead anchor, I was less than a quarter of the way done with my Michigan logo. So she started making state flowers. Aren't they pretty?!?

These small designs work up quickly. They would make a great project for students learning more about their home states, or fifth graders working on state reports.  

This is a forget-me-not, the state flower of Alaska. 

This is a Black-Eyed Susan, the state flower of Maryland. 

This is an Indian blanket, the state wildflower of Oklahoma. 

And this is a violet, the state flower of Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. 

You can find Perler beads and boards on Amazon and at Michaels (affiliate links). Happy beading!

Perler Beads: University of Michigan Logo and the Rhode Island Anchor

Between the ages of 2 and 10, Trevor was obsessed with Perler beads. We spent many, many hours making all sorts of creations. It was something we both loved doing together. We still have a huge supply of beads, so when Jonna came over to visit during my convalescence, we pulled out the Perler beads and made some state-themed crafts. Affiliate links below.  

We each chose a state from the list of four that don't have enough craft tutorials yet. I made the University of Michigan logo, inspired by this design by cdbvulpix. 

I used two of the large, interlocking square pegboards. The beads are dark blue and yellow. It took forever, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. And I was really close to running out of blue beads. I was so relieved I had enough!

Jonna used graph paper to design a pixelated version of the anchor on Rhode Island's flag. She used the same yellow Perler beads, and a single square pegboard. 

The anchor took a fraction of the time that the logo did. In fact, in the time it took me to finish Jonna made four other small designs, all following the same theme. I'll show you those tomorrow. 

Displaying Perler Bead Creations

This post contains affiliate links. 

Trevor has loved Perler Beads since we were first introduced to them when he was 2. He has made a huge number of items over the past nine years and kept all but the very few he's given away. Storage is getting to be a problem. It was not easy, but I convinced him to go through them all and separate out his favorites and get rid of any that were broken, poorly melted, or simply not special. 

Then we used straight pins to arrange those favorites on a corkboard frame. 

We hung the frame right next to the shelves of games and toys. 

The plan is that as he makes new creations, he'll display them on the corkboard and get rid of one of his previous pieces that is not as special. Or, we'll eventually end up with a second corkboard hung above the first, as he's really going to struggle replacing an old favorite. 

Do your kids have a lot of Perler Bead creations? How do you store / display them?

Bunny Week, Day 4: Perler Bead Bunny

Trevor is absolutely obsessed with Perler Beads. He constantly asks to go to various craft stores to check out their Perler supply, to see if they have a board shape or idea book or bead color he doesn't already have. He's recently gotten into making the 3-D shapes, which are totally amazing. He and a friend made an incredible pirate ship the other day, but Trevor sent it home with his friend before I could take a picture.  

For Bunny Week, Trevor found an online pattern for an adorable bunny and I decided to design my own bunny. Trevor has an idea book with blank pages in the back to design your own patterns. (He's been designing Ninjago characters, which I'll share at some point.) Here's how my pattern turned out.

Alas, we did not have light grey beads amongst our (literally) thousands of beads. So I settled for tan.  

 

I think he came out really cute!  

Tomorrow I'll be wrapping up Bunny Week 2013 (because I've now decided this should be an annual event) with answers to the most frequently asked questions I get about owning a house rabbit.